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Liked the attacking way he got to his half century. The verdict on sky last night did give constructive criticism about facing spin but what else could he do? Appreciate the turners in Bangladesh are above and beyond the so-called turning squares around division 2 and to his credit played his own way.
Duckett deserves a run in the side in India, who will have more seamers and will best suit him. Whether as opener or in top 4 remains to be seen. Hamed will get his chance too at some point...at the moment Duckett is in the box seat in favour. Cook...another d2 batsman (tongue in cheek!) spoke very highly of him too in interview post-match.

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Career progression and confidence hinge on fine margins. Maybe if we'd won the toss then Ben would have come out in a less stressful situation with the spinners not creating as much. Might just have got away and put down a marker. Who knows. Agree though he's got a tough job now to secure his place as the 2nd innings is going to be extremely difficult.

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[quote="saintcobbler"]
Career progression and confidence hinge on fine margins. Maybe if we'd won the toss then Ben would have come out in a less stressful situation with the spinners not creating as much. Might just have got away and put down a marker. Who knows. Agree though he's got a tough job now to secure his place as the 2nd innings is going to be extremely difficult.
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Second innings done and dusted. Buttler might have a recall by default, as there is no cricket other than the tests at the moment.

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Yes, it looks as though Duckett's number is up this time, Ashwin having him in a cocked hat. With youth on his side it's time he does some intensive work on his technique, particularly against the ball turning away from the bat.

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To be fair to Duckett he has time on his side to do just that. All the pundits said the Duckett of Northants is a very different beast compared to the Test batsman and should not be discarded having earned and fully justified his place on the tour in sheer weight of runs.

His time will come again next summer if not later in the series, however with the first test here not until July there is no reason he can't play his way back into contention. Appreciate d2 to India away is a hell of a jump but no reason why his time can't come again - as number 3 or 4.

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[quote="abington1"]
Is Buttler the answer though? can he play spin?
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Buttler may not be the answer, but the selectors have backed themselves into a corner by not taking an additional option (as a right hander) at the start of the tour. Presumably that was meant to be a signal of confidence in the likes of Duckett and Ballance.

Whether or not Jos can play spin, there is no way that he is the next best bat to play at number four or five. He just happens to be out there.

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Now that Hameed is out of the tour, what do the selectors do now? The whole team represent a collective batting failure so I don't see a problem in recalling Duckett and giving him some experience of playing the best spin bowlers. The series is done and dusted in any case. If Ben gets only a few more runs then he will not be in any the worse place than he is now. However, were he to get a good score in just one innings then his confidence would be given a major boost ready for the next series in England. Let's face it even the captain has been 'out' so many times his real average is probably lower than Ben's.

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[quote="saintcobbler"]
Now that Hameed is out of the tour, what do the selectors do now? The whole team represent a collective batting failure so I don't see a problem in recalling Duckett and giving him some experience of playing the best spin bowlers. The series is done and dusted in any case. If Ben gets only a few more runs then he will not be in any the worse place than he is now. However, were he to get a good score in just one innings then his confidence would be given a major boost ready for the next series in England. Let's face it even the captain has been 'out' so many times his real average is probably lower than Ben's.
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I would agree, but quite an issue was made of Ben's left-handedness, against Ashwin in particular, which was being used to reinforce the argument to drop him. With the apparently prevailing view that others (from outside the initial tour squad) may deserve an opportunity, the chances of his recall seem remote at this stage.

Last edited by Bucksman on Wed Nov 30, 2016 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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So two players who couldn't be bothered to play for their country (well one, the other adopted country) and a young player who was proud to play for his country, Ben Duckett opened the batting against Bangladesh and India against an attack that spun from the word go. Duckett gets dropped, Buttler in at NUMBER 7 scratches around then plays well at NUMBER 7. Morgan and Hales opted out of the tour to Bangladesh despite FCO ensuring security to the highest degree but then are picked for the ODI in India. In my job I was told to go to this country and that country and went without a qualm, because it was my job and did it without question. I am sorry but so angry at this stance hope the both fail abysmally. If they cant tour after all those reassurances they shouldn't be picked again

Ben's treatment is not exactly unprecedented in the annals of England team selection but, in this case, he was given little opportunity to make himself 'undroppable' in the context of the guaranteed return of Morgan and Hales to the ODI fold.

One can only presume that Morgan, as captain, wasn't involved at all in this decision!

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Two fifties in 3 ODI's obviously count for nothing. As a young player, his confidence will now be shot and he'll probably struggle with us next season. I can't believe the selectors have done this after such a good start by Ben. OK he struggled in a couple of innings in India. Nobody else did I suppose?